A holistic approach to Lean: The Lucid Production System.

Lean Manufacturing is commonly described as the application of practices and tools to minimize waste. While this definition may be completely adequate for those looking to improve efficiencies and reduce costs, there’s a bigger picture to consider.

At Lucid Motors, Lean takes a more purposeful and satisfying approach. It’s about doing the right things with the right people for the right reasons, resulting in improved job satisfaction, superior products and services, and ultimately, an elevated customer experience. Best of all, this approach is applicable to any individual and any industry by providing a universally relevant framework of Purpose, Strategy, and People.

Let’s explore the Lucid Production System (LPS) and how it can be applied to increase personal job satisfaction and overall business performance. 

1: Purpose

True job satisfaction comes from something much more penetrating than just collecting a paycheck. No matter what service you provide or what product you manufacture, it’s very likely that you enjoy having a positive impact on the world and in people’s lives. That’s why adopting the Lucid Production System (LPS) starts with understanding the deeper purpose for investing our time and effort into our job.

An organization’s deeper purpose is typically articulated through a mission statement – the short statement that both drives and guides the company. At Lucid Motors, our mission is, “to inspire the adoption of sustainable energy by creating the most captivating luxury electric vehicles, centered around the human experience”. This unambiguously communicates our strong focus on the environment and solid commitment to the customer.

Lucid’s mission of making the world and people’s lives better may seem easy to get behind, but something similar can be said for many organizations: the service or product you provide is intended to make a difference. Step outside the daily grind to reflect on your company’s mission.

Once you understand your company’s mission, think about how you and your team support this high-level, over-arching mission. Creating your own mission statement allows you to appreciate how impactful you are, and to make corrections if misalignment exists.

Core values are the fundamental things that shape your culture, support your vision, and reflect your beliefs – and they are another crucial aspect of overall purpose. To be successful applying LPS, core values can’t be something that just exists on a piece of paper.

It’s necessary to understand your company’s mission and vision and how you and your team fit into the equation, and to see core values demonstrated every day at all levels of the organization. This is your purpose and the foundation of your success.

2: Strategy

This next step involves planning deliberate, proactive actions or tasks, each designed to help you achieve your purpose. To get started, list all of your key performance areas. For example, at Lucid, the prioritized list of performance areas is Safety, People, Environment, Quality, Delivery, and Cost – (SPEQDC, for short).

Since success is ultimately dependent on exceptional performance in each of these key areas, there is a structured strategy for optimizing results:

·        Set goals. Understand and communicate the performance results necessary for achieving specific, quantifiable targets.

·        Take action. Perform tasks that are designed to help you achieve your goals. For instance, in manufacturing, a team member performs their standardized work, trains to develop a high level of proficiency, and maintains a clean, safe, and well-organized workstation. These daily actions ensure SPEQDC results are optimized.

·        Monitor results. Ensure you have relevant metrics for measuring performance in relation to your goals and visualize the data to gain alignment and set priorities.

·        Manage abnormalities. By following the previous steps, you’ll quickly know when corrections are needed and where opportunities exist to do even better. Abnormalities tend to show themselves in the form of poorly trending key performance indicators, audit discrepancies, and constructive feedback from the team. How you manage these issues makes all the difference. Having a robust continuous improvement program, a healthy Lean toolbox, and a culture of problem solving creates an environment where problems are simply seen as exciting opportunities.

Continually repeating these steps is what brings optimal results. Similar to Deming’s PDCA cycle (plan, do, check, act), this strategy drives high levels of focused and prioritized continuous improvement.

3: People

Being people-focused starts with having a genuine appreciation and respect for others and understanding that people are the most valuable asset for any organization. Without this, everything else simply falls apart. Only when your organization demonstrates a sincere care for people will they engage in the mission and take initiative to execute well thought-out strategies.

The people that make the biggest impact are those with the right mindset, skillset, and knowledge. These strengths, in turn, should be nurtured in an organization by providing servant leadership, creating a culture of engagement, and investing in employees’ growth and development.

Invest in people by offering learning and development programs that span the entire career lifecycle, creating continuous improvement and recognition programs, and ensuring that leadership has daily touch points with all employees. Use daily touch points as a means of creating two-way dialogues by engaging employees, soliciting feedback, answering questions, and offering any needed support.

This type of environment promotes teamwork and breeds a true sense of ownership, resulting in higher morale and improved personal and business performance.

Doing the right things with the right people for the right reasons.

The Lucid Production System is all about doing the right things with the right people for the right reasons and can be applied to any business by taking the Purpose, Strategy, and People approach.

Now that you’re equipped with the right toolkit, you can start implementing the system in your work. At Lucid, we’ve seen substantial levels of engagement, high employee retention rates, and positively-trending performance metrics. I hope you have the same success.